Footwear, particularly athletic footwear, are worn in a variety of activities including running, walking, hiking, team and individual sports, and any other activity where the protection and support of human feet is desired. In one configuration, an article of footwear includes an upper that forms a cavity in which a user places his or her foot. The article of footwear further includes a sole that engages the bottom of the foot and separates the foot from the ground. Uppers in athletic footwear are usually formed from one or more pieces of fabric, leather, and/or plastic that are stitched, bonded, or otherwise attached together. Various fasteners, including laces or strings, are used to secure the foot in the cavity defined by the upper.
Every human foot differs in both shape and size. While conventional articles of footwear are sold in various sizes, these sizes are generalizations and fail to take into consideration the varying shapes between different feet that have the same size. Because conventional articles of footwear are incapable of accommodating varying shapes of feet, an article of footwear is limited to the number of people that find that article of footwear comfortable.
In addition, while conventional articles of footwear contain eyelets configured to receive a string or laces, the eyelets of the conventional articles of footwear are typically only aligned along the medial and lateral sides of the instep (i.e., proximate to a tongue of an article of footwear). Thus, as a wearer of the conventional article of footwear tightens the laces of the article of footwear, the article of footwear may contain portions that are tighter and more uncomfortable than other portions that are looser. The positioning of the eyelets of the conventional article of footwear inhibit the upper of the article of footwear from contouring and conforming to the shape of the foot within the article of footwear, reducing the comfort of the article of footwear. The positioning of the eyelets also prevents the article of footwear from providing proper support to the foot within the article of footwear, especially during athletic events, such as running.
It would be desirable to provide an article of footwear with a plurality of eyelets disposed over the surface of the upper in a variety of locations, where a lacing element or fastener may be selectively threaded through select eyelets along the upper of an article of footwear in a configuration that is most comfortable to a wearer of the article of footwear. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide the plurality of eyelets to further enable the user of the article of footwear to selectively thread the fastener through select eyelets disposed on the upper of the article of footwear to tightly contour and conform the upper to the shape of any foot placed within the article of footwear, or to alter the amount of support provided by the upper based on an intended activity or event (e.g., running, cross-training, etc.).